Restoring bus service for area seniors discussed

WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Restoring limited public bus service for senior citizens and making Northeast Avenue one way going north topped discussions at a joint meeting Wednesday between members of the Waynesboro Borough Council and Washington Township Supervisors.

The elected officials put together an agenda ranging from use of the National Guard Armory building on Grant Street when it becomes available to how to spend a state grant of up to $75,000 on a joint comprehensive plan study to a plateful of roadway items.

The supervisors hosted the meeting at their office building on Welty Road.

All borough council members attended, along with Mayor Louis Barlup and Borough Manager Lloyd Hamberger. Township Manager Michael Christopher and Supervisors Chairman Art Cordell led that contingency with only Supervisor James Kirby absent. Kirby recently announced his resignation from the board.

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Several suggestions were offered to make it safer for drivers to turn left onto East Main Street from Northeast Avenue. Borough Councilman Charles "Chip" McCammon recommended making the side street one way north. That would send traffic trying to enter Main Street down Roadside Avenue to the traffic light at its intersection with Main Street. It also would be the cheapest solution, the officials agreed.

Other issues included:

Supervisor Stewart McCleaf, concerned about the plight of seniors who don't drive, urged his colleagues to consider re-establishing some kind of public bus service in both communities.

Councilman John Cook suggested that the merchants who would benefit from such service contribute to its cost. Councilman Harold Mumma said the Greater Waynesboro Chamber of Commerce could take a role in the effort.

The supervisors urged the council members, to no avail, to join with them in beefing up the Washington Township's D.A.R.E. student drug education program. Trained township police officers teach the program and are paid overtime when they do it on their own time.

Barlup said the borough would support the township provided borough police officers volunteered for the duty.

The supervisors took little comfort in Barlup's pledge to "take it under advisement."

The discussion on the armory building centered on the state's plan to close it and one in Gettysburg, Pa., and build a new one for both units in South Mountain, Pa. The new building will be finished in 2007.

The local officials spoke of several possible uses for the armory if the borough can get it. They included its use as a joint borough-township police station, a joint borough-township municipal building, a borough-only police and fire station, among others.

It's still up in the air if the state plans to sell the building to the borough for a nominal fee or sell it at public auction, in which case the borough could be outbid, Hamberger said.